Lifting sanctions on Syria seems mad, until you consider the alternative

A decade ago Ahmed al-Sharaa was masterminding suicide-bombings as the second-in-command of al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria. Three months ago he was the commander of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a blood-soaked rebel group that led the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s murderous dictator. Today he is the country’s interim president. With a global trade war raging and the transatlantic alliance fraying, you might think that helping Mr Sharaa is the last thing that America should do. But unless it suspends sanctions on Syria now, the country faces economic collapse. It would then surely become a failed state, and spread mayhem to its neighbours.